Many products, such as computers, related peripherals, and copy machines, are illustrated to customers by preprinted brochures. Computer and copy machine dealers, for example, have glossy brochures that show pictures of computers, peripherals, and copy machines along with generic textual descriptions of such products. A customer may "try out" a particular computer, peripheral, or copy machine of interest. The dealer will also furnish the customer with one of the preprinted brochures of the computer, peripheral, or copy machine. The brochure documents and contains information about the product. The customer may refer to the brochure and potentially be quite influenced by it in making a decision regarding whether to purchase the computer, peripheral, or copy machine.
The generic nature of these preprinted brochures, however, may have a negative impact on the customer's ultimate decision of whether to purchase and thus are often not persuasive. Traditionally, only one brochure is available for each computer, peripheral, or copy machine, for example, and every potential purchaser of that product receives the same brochure. These brochures contain glossy photographs of the product potentially in a variety of predetermined settings. Next to the photographs, the brochures usually contain generic textual descriptions of the computer, peripheral, or copy machine. Finally, the brochures typically contain standard lists of options for the computer, peripheral, or copy machine along with complex pricing charts from which one may calculate a price based on a matrix of options and prices.
The preprinted brochures contain all of these different settings for the computer, peripheral, or copy machine, and generic information in an attempt to appeal to any potential purchaser. For example, one: customer may anticipate using a computer for work, and the brochure contains a photograph of the computer used in an office environment in order to appeal to that customer and influence that customer in his or her decision to purchase the computer. Another customer may want to use the computer at home, and the photograph in the brochure of the computer in a home environment is designed to appeal to that customer.
The brochures also contain standard pricing charts. Since every brochure is generic to any customer, however, it must contain complex pricing charts that include a matrix of options and prices. Furthermore, since prices of the computer, for example, or options often change, the information in the brochure can easily be out of date. Also, much of the pricing information is not of interest to a particular customer, since the customer will typically be interested in the price for a single, or relatively few, combinations of options for the computer. The same applies to peripherals and copy machines
In containing all of this varied and generic information in an attempt to be "all things to every customer," the preprinted brochures actually are of limited value to any particular customer. The brochures are not customer specific and, therefore, are not particularly appealing or persuasive for any customer. The typical brochure contains much information that is of no value or interest to a particular customer due to the varied and generic nature of the product pictures and textual descriptions. Furthermore, these preprinted brochures are expensive to produce because of the glossy photographs and may be quickly out of date, meaning that either a dealership must discard the brochures or provide customers with "old" brochures.
The present invention solves these problems by utilizing a computer-based system to dynamically create customized, printed proposals for potential purchasers of a product. The system queries a customer to determine his or her interests and desired options. The interests may include a "use" desired by the customer, such as home or office. The interests may also include the type of information, such as technical, that the customer would like in the proposal. The desired options may include the various features of interest to the customer.
Based upon the customer's answers to the queries, the system links product pictures, optional environment pictures, and textual descriptions together in a customized proposal. The system also has the capability to link together other aspects in the proposal, which may include environment text describing the product in a particular setting or environment. The customized proposal, therefore, contains pictures, textual descriptions, and pricing information that is all of interest to and relevant to a specific customer, since all of the pictures and text were linked together based upon the customer's answers.
Since each proposal is customized for a particular customer, each proposal will have a much more persuasive effect in selling the product. Also, if any information about the product changes, such as prices of options, the system information stored in a database may be simply changed in order to accommodate the new information. Additional textual descriptions or pictures may also be added to the system database to be used in linking together information for a proposal.
The quality of the pictures produced in these customized, printed proposals can be made comparable in quality to the glossy photographs in prior art proposals due to recent advances in computer printers. Printers such as the Canon CLC-300 produce color computer print-outs that resemble color photographs. These customized proposals, therefore, need not be inferior to prior art proposals in terms of the quality of available pictures for the proposals.
This system for producing customized, high-quality proposals has many potential applications, such as in the computer, related peripherals, and copy machine industry. A customized proposal generated by the present invention will have a great appeal to each individual customer and will be an asset in selling the product.